Old order changeth –
yielding place to new” – there are many things which were a novelty at the time
of their conception but lost their significance over the period of time. A few decades ago, New Year would usher in
with hundreds of ‘Greeting Cards’ personally written wishes from relatives and
friends that would make one happy. That
was the time when people thronged Post Offices for Post cards, Inland letters
and covers –– later it was phone calls and SMS, then e-mail took over ; Most telephony
providers hike or charge special rates on festival days and the messages do get
delayed due to overload of traffic. Social
networks gets flooded with greeting messages (somehow
many of them appear bulk inane messages
with no life or personal touch !)

Love it or hate it, many
people feel compelled to count in the
New Year at midnight, whether celebrating at a party or freezing outside
watching fireworks. In the Gregorian
calendar, New Year's Eve , is on December 31. In many countries, celebrations
generally go on past midnight into January 1 (New Year's Day). In a movie Cable Raja (Silambarasan) living in a slum
bemoans his poverty and wishes to become rich by marrying his girlfriend Priya
(Jasmin Bhasin). He cons her into believing he is well off, and adopts a
well-bred persona in front of her. When he is asked by Priya to buy high-priced
passes to a New Year's Eve gala, he finds himself severely short of money.
After a failed attempt at chain snatching and crossing paths with the police,
he heads to a hospital with theft on his mind……..

Let 2017 unleash a million
reasons to smile! In one posh hotel in
the City, the New Year extravaganza
offered beverages - Whisky - Chivas Regal 12 years and Ballantine's; Vodka –
Absolut; Rum – Bacardi; Red Wine - Jacob's Creek Cabernet Shiraz – all for an
early bird couple price of Rs.15000/- and demonetisation did not stop people
from attending it – elsewhere on a TASMAC bar opp to Chepauk stadium, people of
all ages were jostling to buy that great drink – none complained of long queue
before ATM and non availability of cash !!
- it was the same scenario in most other parts as well.

At Chennai, Buhari hotel Mount road, gets spruced up for the late night bash –at midnight, group of youth would gather on
roads, drink, drive crazily, shout and
disturb, annoy, rattle, enrage and even cause harm to others………. What is this about and what would this
merriment provide to any body ? one could hear crackers and din in Marina –
when crackers are hurled at people on road, none complains of noise or
pollution ! Everybody knows that drunken
driving causes majority of accidents during New Year Eve and most claims are
viewed with suspicion by the Insurers when they are reported closer to New
Year. The City Police keeps a big patrol
on road. Nearly 10,000 police personnel
would be deployed on security duty for New year celebrations in the city.

Beach road, Marina beach,
Elliots beach, ECR, Mount road are some of the places where some incidents and
some accidents get reported every year.
Besides the road accidents, Chennaites should remember the grisly
incident at a famous hotel a few years ago.
On that fateful day, the makeshift dance floor on swimming pool
collapsed killing 3 of the revellers and injuring few more.

If you felt this post to be
too cynical…. Nothing much has changed – Beach road was strewn with filth and
in couple places parts of damaged vehicle.
News reports state that a total of nine persons lost their lives lost
their lives in various incidents across Tamilnadu since last night, while over
150 were injured in events connected to new year revelry.Police sources say
that in Chennai, several youngsters rode twowheelers in a rash manner and
around 100 mishaps were reported in which a total of 150 sustained injuries.
And many were admitted to nearby hospitals.

Will sanity ever prevail ~
are there not better ways of welcoming New year ? – and at Thiruvallikkeni
MRTS, some vehicles parked outside the parking lot were charred in what is
reported to be insane fire put out by some inebriated persons.